"A delinquent teenager's only link to society is the attachment he feels towards an older brother-figure. When the older boy starts spending time with a new girlfriend, the teenager begins to feel even more alienated, and gets involved with drugs and the police." (IMDb)
This is a good teen drama directed by Christopher Cain (The Principal, Young Guns). The film is based on the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton and stars Emilio Estevez (who also wrote the screenplay), Graig Sheffer, Larry B. Scott, Kim Delaney, Barbara Babcock, Morgan Freeman, Frank Howard, Jill Schoelen and Matthew Dudley.
Many people say that the book is much better. I havenīt read this S.E. Hinton book so i canīt really tell. Anyway, i liked the movie a lot, itīs a very nice teen drama with strong characters.
Estevez is always good and crazy. Iīve always liked Graig Sheffer (Voyage of the Rock Aliens, Fire with Fire, Some Kind of Wonderful, Split Decisions) too. Larry B. Scott (Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, Iron Eagle, SpaceCamp etc.) is also a great guy. I loved his rap sequence Kim Delaney (Campus Man) is very sweet and Jill Schoelen (everyone knows her!) looks cool as the punk girl Angela. Frank Howard did a good job as the troubled teen M & M.
The ever reliable Morgan Freeman is the bar owner Charlie and Barbara Babcock plays Shefferīs supercool mom, Mrs. Douglas.
I liked the Minnesota locations and the soundtrack was awesome. It was composed by the legendary producer Keith Olsen and AOR guru Bill Cuomo.
Hereīs a cool tribute video which includes the great theme tune sung by Randy Wayne and Carroll Sue Hill.
Finnish VHS cover art Posted by noikz (Member # 1000) on :
I love this movie aTomiK.
I always associate this with Charlie's "The Boys Next Door" for some reason. Both are gritty and have great soundtracks.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Yeah, The Boys Next Door is also great. Iīm gonna check it out again soon. I remember that it included few cool tunes from the first Great White album.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
you can count me in atomik,i also love this movie,weren't so long ago i last watched it actually,my wife's also a big fan,same goes for the boys next door noikz,love the end of that flick where bo (sheen)and roy(caulfield)are cornered in the supermarket and bo realises there's no way out but roy seems to want to go out all guns blazing.
love the music to both flicks,the music score playing at the end of boys next door as it closes out to the credits as sheen is arrested,absolutely first rate.
also love the music to that was then,especially when the movie first opens to oingo boingo's just another day.
great write up atomik and a great movie.
[ 17. September 2012, 09:02: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
I have always loved this movies. It's classic. The last scene is a bit lame but hey.
Posted by jforsberg (Member # 12862) on :
i watched this a while ago...Thought it was a pretty good movie. I love Old Emilio Movies, one of my favorite actors of the era.
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
True, old Emilio films are gold. A real forgotten gem.
Posted by gotta go back (Member # 9818) on :
It was a must see when it came out because of Estevez but I was bored and disappointed is all I remember about it. Perhaps I should give it a second chance?
Posted by Nostalgic for the '80's (Member # 37454) on :
"That was then, this is now" is an extremely underrated film. Even as a teen back in the '80's, I was never a big fan of most of S.E. Hinton's books/movies (The Outsiders, etc.).
However, when I saw "That was Then.." for the first time back in the 200X's, I felt it was an extremely heartfelt story about two friends who were inseparable at one time, but who ended up growing up & apart for various reasons - i.e., GS's new gf, and the EE character getting more involved with drugs.
The scene when the Morgan Freeman bar owner character died was very sad. This was especially ironic because his death was a direct result of the "pool hustle" that GS & EE had perpetrated.
When GS turned in EE at the end of the film I did feel it was huge betrayal, but I could also see why the character did what he did.
Though this is a movie aimed at teens, I can actually relate more to this now (as an adult) than I could have as a kid. Though I can't relate to these specific situations, as I've gotten older I have noticed that I've moved apart from people I was friends with in the past.
I also read the short novel "That was then, this is now" and I felt it was somewhat better than the film, and went over the character's history/motivations in more detail than the movie...
Posted by Logan 5 (Member # 1467) on :
I quite liked the book, but wasn't blown away by it. This felt like a film whose reach exceeded its grasp. There were some nice themes and the cast tried hard, but the script and directing could have been better. Estevez adapted it himself.
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